This is a joke, Parkun thought as he scanned the people around him, a very large crowd by Bree’s standards. He smirked as he observed the mayor and the elder council of the town, wondering why everyone stood and listened to such frail hands and failing minds. White hair did not equate with wisdom.

These town meetings frustrated him to no end, and the more typical ones put him quickly to sleep, but there were appearances to consider. His father was the innkeeper of the Prancing Pony, and as the son of such a man, he had to be just as an upstanding townsperson. And what well-to-do person did not go to the town meetings?

“I know we all have what it takes to protect our land and our loved ones,” the mayor boomed, and Parkun suppressed a snort. “But in this fearful time, I am calling for a group of Defenders of Bree…” the young man began to really listen at the phrase ‘group of defenders’, “to be led by Toby Mugwort, a strong-hearted Breelander since birth.”

A group of defenders led by…a Hobbit? Parkun thought with wonder. This town was even more of a joke than he thought. A Hobbit couldn’t stand up even to whatever petty criminals or common beasts were causing a scare. When men began volunteering to be a part of the group, Kun believed they might have a chance. But then a woman was volunteered, and then a Dwarf – of all people – who sounded very full of himself, and then even more Hobbits.

What a motley crew. And the safety of the town was in their hands? Hah, Parkun laughed to himself, we’re lucky they’re not up against much. Perhaps they were quite lucky, as well. If they were already granted the lofty title of ‘Defenders of Bree’, before they had accomplished anything, this group was surely all set up for grand treatment by the other townsfolk.

Just when the mayor, and all the others present, seemed to think they had a good number of ‘Defenders’, Parkun lifted up his hand with only an awkward nod to Master Hershman, thinking that maybe it was time the innkeeper’s second eldest made some sort of name for himself.